The Charnel House (French: Le Charnier) is a 1944–1945 oil and charcoal on canvas painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, which is purported to deal with the Nazi genocide of the Holocaust. The black and white 'grisaille' composition centres on a massed pile of corpses and was based primarily upon film and photographs of a slaughtered family during the Spanish Civil War. It is considered to be Picasso's second major anti-war painting, the first being the monumental Guernica (1937), although it is smaller than its predecessor and unfinished. The painting is housed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Background This painting is considered to be an anti-war statement, yet Picasso was largely apolitical until the Spanish Civil War. His art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler said that he had been the "most apolitical man" he had ever known. The Spanish Civil War caused Picasso to become more concerned with politics, which led to the creation of his first anti-war painting, Guernica in 1937. In 1945, Picasso asserted his political role as an artist.What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who has only eyes if he's a painter, or ears if he's a musician, or a lyre at every level of his heart if he's a poet, or even, if he's a boxer, just his muscles? On the contrary, he's at the same time a political being, constantly alive to heartrending, fiery, or happy events, to which he responds in every way [...] No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war for attack and defense against the enemy.During World War II, Picasso lived in Paris, while it was occupied by the Nazis. Despite their attempts to win over French intellectuals with offers of food and coal, Picasso was persistently defiant, stating that, "A Spaniard is never cold". The impact of the Second World War resulted in many of Picasso's artworks becoming more political, and he depicted the effects of the occupation in dark, grey hues. The Charnel House is considered to be Picasso's most political painting since he painted Guernica in 1937. It was inspired by a documentary about a Spanish Republican family who were killed in their kitchen. The subject matter had particular significance to Picasso, as he had lost many friends during the war. It therefore represented a memorial to the Spanish Republicans who lost their lives during the